The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "accusation" ...
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FACT CHECK: Daniel Acker Report Ignored
Through our investigation we found that a teacher, that was convicted of sexually molesting a student, was accused of a similar offense years before, but the report was not acted upon. We confronted former board members about the issue to find out why they did not remove the teacher from his position. Their answers were startling and exposed a process that is now in question.
Tags: broadcast; teacher; students; sexual abuse; sex offense
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Bronx Prosecutors Drop Staggering Loads of Cases
A nine-month investigation by WNYC’s Ailsa Chang revealed that people accused of crimes in the Bronx have a greater chance of walking away without charges than anywhere else in New York City. Chang’s two-part series shows that the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office declines to prosecute thousands more cases than do the four other District Attorney offices. And the main reason is a troubling internal policy that no other prosecutors’ office in the city follows: In the Bronx, a case is dropped if a victim doesn’t cooperate within the first 24 hours after an arrest. Bronx prosecutors declined almost one quarter of all their cases in 2011. That’s nearly four times the average rate Manhattan and Brooklyn prosecutors declined cases.
Tags: Crimes; charges; prosecutors; declined cases; victim cooperation
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In Jennifer's Room
In August 2006, caregivers at the Sonoma Developmental Center found dark blue bruises shaped like handprints covering the breasts of a patient. Jennifer accused a staff member of molestation and her injuries appeared to be evidence of sexual abuse. Big projects often have smaller narratives within them that can be developed into standalone features that draw readers into the larger story. Clearly Jennifer’s story was one of those. Presenting this story in video format was particularly challenging because Jennifer and her mother did not want to be identified. We chose a graphic narrative approach, with a voice actor reading the transcript of the mother’s interview. The artist consulted photographs and diagrams of the Sonoma Developmental Center to ensure that the drawings were accurate.
Tags: Sexual abuse; crime; molestation
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Locked up
A USA TODAY investigation found that the U.S. Justice Department was using its legal authority to decide who gets locked up for how long in ways that reward the guilty and punish the innocent. Our examination found that government lawyers were trying to keep dozens of men who they conceded were “legally innocent” imprisoned anyway. We found that the Justice Department had kept accused sexual predators locked up for years past the end of their prison sentences on the basis of faulty psychological assessments. And exposed a brazen pay-to-snitch enterprise that illustrated how the government rewards its informants — often hardened criminals — with shorter prison sentences.
Tags: U.S. Justice Department; lawyers; sexual predators; criminals; prison sentences
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Decades of Dishonor
When the Boy Scout "perversion files" were released in October, we began reporting on a local sex offender accused of abuse in the 1980s. But it was just the tip of the iceberg, as we learned the man was a former teacher who had been dogged by abuse allegations for decades.
Tags: Boy Scout; sex offender; sexual abuse; teacher
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Broken Shield
Decades ago, California created a special police force to patrol exclusively at its five state developmental centers – taxpayer-funded institutions where patients with severe autism and cerebral palsy have been beaten, tortured and raped by staff members. But California Watch found that this state force, the Office of Protective Services, does an abysmal job bringing perpetrators to justice. Reporter Ryan Gabrielson, a Pulitzer Prize winner, exposed the depths of the abuse inside these developmental centers while showing how sworn officers and detectives wait too long to start investigations, fail to collect evidence and ignore key witnesses – leading to an alarming inability to solve crimes inflicted upon some of society’s most vulnerable citizens. Dozens of women were sexually assaulted inside state centers, but police investigators didn’t order “rape kits” to collect evidence, a standard law enforcement tool. Police waited so long to investigate one sexual assault that the staff janitor accused of rape fled the country, leaving behind a pregnant patient incapable of caring for a child. The police force’s inaction also allowed abusive caregivers to continue molesting patients – even after the department had evidence that could have stopped future assaults. Many of the victims chronicled by California Watch are so disabled they cannot utter a word. Gabrielson gave them a resounding voice. Our Broken Shield series prompted far-reaching change, including a criminal investigation, staff retraining and new laws – all intended to bring greater safeguards and accountability.
Tags: California; police; autism; cerebral palsy; abuse; children
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Unreasonable Doubt
The Globe's team found that when accused drunk drivers waive their right to a jury trial and take their cases before a single judge, they are acquitted four out of five times- an astonishing statewide acquittal rate of 82 percent that is virtually unmatched in the United States. The Globe found that the acquittal rate by judges is 30 percentage points higher than the acquittal rate by juries.
Tags: Drunk driving; judge; jury; acquittal; conviction
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Arrested Development
For thousands of youths accused of crimes, punishment preceeds any conviction. The may be held for months or even years in county jails for -- and sometimes with -- adult suspects. Scripps Howard News Service reports on the 7,500 junveiles in adult jails at any time, their conditions of confinement and how a loophole in federal law allows jails in 29 states to house juveniles with adults.
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The Baghdad Job: Iraq's Missing Billions
Revealing that every one of the billion dollar cash airlifts the NY Fed sent to Baghdad was met by the same man. He handled as much as 40 billion dollars in cash in the war zone between 2003 and 2008. On one occasion -- to dupe the insurgents who frequently attacked his currency convoys -- the courier placed a billion dollars in the back of a garbage truck and rolled it down "Route Irish," the unnamed military designation for what was the most dangerous road in the world. The courier accused unnamed Iraqi officials of being involved in theft of millions of dollars of the cash that he delivered into their vaults.
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The Nightmare
The story of how Swedish authorities took two small children in protective custody after a single phone call. The children's father was charged with sexual abuse of the children and the mother of complicity in the crimes. Although both parents were totally innocent, their lives, and the lives of the children, turned into a nightmare.
Tags: Sweden; authorities; protective custody; sexual abuse; wrongful accusation